liderc

   Hungarian DEMON that shape shifts into three guises: an INCUBUS, a household spirit, and a death omen light.

   The incubus liderc takes advantage of loneliness, masquerading as long-absent lovers and dead husbands. Once in its victim’s bed, it returns night after night and fornicates with the victim, who has a wasting death. A giveaway to the demon’s true nature is that it has one goose leg and foot, which it keeps hidden in trousers and boots. The household liderc takes the form of a featherless chicken that suddenly appears or is hatched from an egg carried in the armpit. It can never be banished once it has entered a home. The only solution is to keep it busy with tasks; otherwise, it will destroy the occupants. The flickering light liderc is a ball of light (ignis fautis) that hovers over the household where someone will soon die.

   FURTHER READING:

   - Mack, Carol K., and Dinah Mack. A Field Guide to Demons: Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. New York: Owl Books/Henry Holt, 1998.